Why Bach?

The band has had two concert setting performances during the past two weeks. One was our Winter Concert in which the Symphonic Band, the Wind Ensemble, and the Percussion Ensemble each performed. We did holiday music like O Holy Night, I'll Be Home For Christmas, and Cambridge Carol...all except for one piece. The Wind Ensemble also performed Prelude and Fugue in G Minor by J.S. Bach. We also performed this work for the entire student body at the annual winter arts assembly. The question that was asked of me by some was "Why play that Bach piece? It isn't Christmas music." Well the answer is simple. The answer is because it is Bach. The entertainment that my groups produce is a secondary result of the most important thing I do. That is music education. I teach music and I teach expression. In today's world all you have to do is watch the news to see people expressing themselves in unhealthy and unproductive manners. I give my students and audiences a chance to perform and experience something expressively. We don't just play the notes and rhythms. We listen to not only the lines we are playing but to all and we play the things that are not on the page. Thursday was the last day I saw my Wind Ensemble before our break and I thought maybe we will just take a break from playing, but then I thought "I don't want to not play today. Maybe they want to play too." So we did. I passed out a rather technically easy composition A Shaker Gift Song by Frank Ticheli. What happened was not only impressive but also artful. Much as the students had to listen into the ensemble to perform the above mentioned Bach, they listened in on this work too. Gone was the concern with just playing notes and rhythms. Music was created and it was created the first time. It was not just a lesson in sightreading. It was expression and art. I don't know what was happening at that in the rest of school or community but I do know for a moment we were creating art and expressing ourselves for the greatest reward. It was not a marching band trophy or a chance to gain applause. It was art for arts sake. So why the Bach? Why play it at the winter assembly for the entire student body? Well, they hear Christmas and Holiday music everywhere. In the mall, in the car, on TV, but I bet they don't get to hear Bach too much on their own so it was a chance for us to educate them too. That's why the Bach!